Footsore and Medbury Vikings

This should be the last of the Footsore and Medbury units – aside from a pack or two left in the lead pile.  As with the rest of the units, they are based for Midgard on basswood trays.  The skirmish unit gets a fancy tray with rock detail.  The cavalry unit has a carefully arranged tray with details in-between the figures.  I found one more character figure at the bottom of the kickstarter box – think it may have been bonus figure.  The four Huscarls will be incorporated into other units – I have some rearranging to do with completed units.

Viking Paint Walk Through

A walkthrough on how I paint my Vikings.  I think of myself as a unit painter and always keep the three foot rule in mind.  If your not familiar – the 3 foot rule states that figures will be viewed from a table distance of 3 feet which hides a variety of painting sins.  Figures are by Footsore – 4 berserkers, 2 command from Thor’s Hammer, 1 Halls of Valhalla, and 1 Viking Shaman.  Steps are listed in order of operation.  If you see paint + paint, it indicates a mix of the two.  Most paints are Reaper brand, with exceptions listed with the color.

Spray paint with Warm Carmel, touch up any bare spots with Stynylrez Red Brown brush on primer.

Color block the major spaces on the figure.  Metals undercoated with Reaper Walnut Brown (any black/brown will do).  Skin coated with Scale Color Basic Flesh – those figures with bare chests have small amounts of the brown undercoat left as a shade.  Axe Handles painted with Secret Weapon Dark Wood (a dark grey).  Pelts painted in either Nut Brown (a medium dark brown with poor coverage – acts more like a wash than a paint) with Saddle Brown dry brush, or Reaper Stone Grey (medium dark grey) with Wolf Grey dry brush.

Some times the colors just come together based on what’s on my pallet.  I put down Ancient Bark (light grey) and used it for some of the pelts.  This is a bright, near white grey – really too much.  I had more Dark Wood ready for a missed axe handle.  Add some water, and Dark Wood becomes a wash to go over the Ancient Bark pelts.

Pants and cloaks.  This list seems like something long and complicated.  Trust me, the process is anything but thought out.  Each of the models has 2 or 3 major cloth areas.  I want to rotate colors through those pieces.  A few red, a few blue, a few green.  Boundary colors are usually a neutral grey, buff, or brown.  I want the major colors to pop, but not clash with the resto of the figure.  Everything either gets a highlight or a wash.

Bear Berserker: pants –  Foundry Terracotta Shade, Terracotta, Terracotta Light

Two Axe Berserker: pants –  Gem Purple + Ebony Flesh, Gem Purple, Gem Purple + Yellowed Bone

Long Axe Berserker: pants –  Khaki Shadow, Stained Olive

Shaman:  Tunic – P3 Battle Dress Green, Foundry Raw Linen, Raw Linen Light. Head piece:  Garnet Red, Garnet Red + Khaki Highlight.

Shield Berserker: pants –  Winter Blue, Glacial Mist

Command w/ Horn: pants –  Winter Blue, Glacial Mist.  pants:  Ebony Flesh, Ebony Flesh + Ghoul Skin

Command w/ Axe:  cloak – Foundry Chestnut Shade, Chestnut, Chestnut Light.  Tunic – Turf Green, MiddleStone

Valhalla:  cloak –  Vallejo Ger. Red Brown, Garnet Red, Garnet Red + Khaki Highlight

Metals – Mithril Silver??  Name has worn off of the bottle.

Hair:  Redstone Highlight & Ruddy Brown for the red heads.  Heartwood Brown for blond.  Saddle Brown for brunette.

Skin:  Army Painter Soft Tone, Beige Red highlights

Belts, Pouches, Scabbards:  any one of the three – Ruddy Brown, Vallejo Leather Brown, Pro Acryl Advanced Flesh Tone. With Pro Acryl Brown Wash

Shields:  The key with shields is to have a dark boundary between the colors.  If the base (shade) color will not do it, then a line is painted in with dark brownish/black.

• Prussian Blue, Templar Blue  Walnut Brown, Wolf Grey
• Prussian Blue, Winter Blue    Khaki Shadow, Khaki Shadow + Khaki Highlight
• Stained Olive, Vallejo Brown Violet    Heartwood Brown, NMM Gold Base
• Garnet Red, Rach Red   Walnut Brown, Walnut Brown + Wolf Grey

Shield Rim – Secret Weapon Handle Wood

All metal – Secret Weapon Armor Wash

Bases:  Liquitex craft art paint is used for the bases.

• Rim – Raw Umber
• Use Raw Umber as the glue to fix rough sand mix.
• Wash sand with Raw Umber + floor wax.
• Dry Brush Raw Sienna.
• Pick out stones with Secret Weapon Handle Wood.
• Apply static grass (Farm Pasture Blend) with white glue.
• Possibly add grass or flower tufts.

Footsore Viking Archers, Command and Berserkers

Footsore archer unit.  New movement tray with thin detail on the edges.  Easier to place the bases, but its a little short on decoration.

Viking Berserkers.  I like these nutters, particularly the one in the bear skin with the puffy pants.  These figures really take advantage of the movement in these sculpts.

Shaman

Leader group

 

Footsore & Ragnarok Vikings

A unit of Footsore Vikings from the 2024 Kickstarter.  These figures are very animated with tons of added detail.  I suggest using these miniatures as skirmishers, or well spaced on a movement tray.  Each figure is dripping with hides, cloaks, weapons and beards.  Sometimes its hard to distinguish one bit from the next.  The miniatures are slightly shorter than Victrix, but its hard to tell will all the leaping and crouching.

Fourth unit for the Ragnarok Danish ‘Finngaill’ warband.  I really like the old, bald man on the right hand side for some reason 🙂

 

Ragnarok Vikings

Three units of Vikings by Ragnarok.  These figures are large (the same height/build as Victrix) with clean & minimal detail.  I’d like to think the sculpting is historically accurate:  simple tunics, belt knives/pouches, unadorned mail shirts, & lots of spears.  At the same time, the figures are far from cookie cutter, each unit has a variety of poses, faces and hair styles.

This group of units is built from the Danish ‘Finngaill’ warband with a few extra figures from the Einherjar Valhalla Hero set (with one more unit on the painting table).  Heroes are set up for Midgard, with a pair of characters on a base as a level 2, and a solo figure as a level 1. Movement trays have plaster barrel/bags added as detail.

 

Paint plan:  So many colors are the results of mixes.  Some of the mixes I’m very happy with, getting a desaturated color.  Some of the other colors are bolder and not as realistic.

• Dark Golden Brown + Prussian Blue = a dark aqua green/blue
• Dark Golden Brown + Garnet Red = murky red
• Dark Golden Brown + Stone Grey = grey/tan
• Heartwood Brown with (or without) brown wash
• Olive Drab, Stained Olive, Worn Olive, Ghoul Skin, Terrain Khaki
• Dusky Skin with Grey, Brown, or even Sorcerous Mist
• Foundry Terracotta makes a salmon color

 

Medbury Vendel

The King Victorious!

I did something I almost never do, the figures were done and on the movement tray when I realized that the white washed shields were overwhelming and boring.  Those figures with unadorned shields were pulled off and given a bit of color.

Any ideas for the movement trays?  I added a shield and spear to this one.  Rather nice, but not something I’m going to repeat that often.  What ever I do needs to stay small and confined to a corner.

Medbury Armoured Vendels

Armoured Vendels from Medbury.

Medbury Vendel Era Danes

Kickstarter #2 – Vendel Danes from Medbury.  These figures are originally 3D sculpts intended for STL distribution, I don’t know why, but Medbury chose to release this set as metal cast miniatures.  And I’m glad they did.  They are a joy to paint, the detail is clean, the sculpting is realistic, and there is no terrible flatness that often comes from 3D sculpting.  The figures are the smallest of the four Viking kickstarters – not a deal breaker, but noticeable in mixed units.  If I were to complain at all, it would be the over abundance of armor for figures from 550-750 AD, but that’s more the fault of the wargamer than the company creating the figures.

Unit one is a mix of Dane Axes and Armored Warriors.

Unit two is a slightly under manned unit of Unarmored Spearmen.

Command bases – a single figure on a 60mm base is a bit lonely.  I may move the horn and banner out of unit one to join them.

Paint plan:

Flesh – top highlight is Beige Red rather than Warrior Flesh.  The ruddy color adds more life to the faces.

Shields – Khaki base with Stone wash around the metal accents.

Sally 4th Vikings

A crew of Vikings from the Sally 4th Kickstarter.  12 Vikings, 5 monks, a garden maid and a cow.  The figures are heavily detailed with a “TV” style.  Casting quality is mostly crisp, although there are several spots where you can see the undercut did not survive to the production mold.

Second unit with a decorated base, with command this time!  I’m learning that less is more, larger open spaces for figure attachment work better.

 

Sally 4th Vikings

2023 was big year for Viking/Saxon Kickstarters.  First up, Sally 4th.

Originally a plastic kit, this group was cast in metal with multiple parts.  About half of the joints went together cleanly, with the other half taking some effort to clean up.  Spears and banner shafts have some bending – time will tell if they hold up as the metal is rather soft.  The figures are well detailed, with many bits and bobs that will need attention during painting.

I went back and forth about how to base the figures.  Ultimatly, I selected the 25mm round.  Now seeing the figures based, it was the right option.  Arms, weapons and even feet are spread out, and use the full 25mm space.